Thursday, December 16, 2010

e-Textile Workshop Sells Out at the Record Breaking Grace Hopper Celebration 2010

"The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) announced a record-breaking turnout of 2147 attendees representing 29 countries for the first day of the 10th Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. The world’s largest gathering of women in computing in industry, academia, and government, the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) is a five-day technical conference designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. Themed  “Collaborating Across Boundaries,” GHC is taking place in Atlanta, Georgia, September 28 – October 2, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta." (excerpt from press release http://gracehopper.org/2010/news/grace-hopper-celebration-of-women-in-computing-announces-record-breaking-turnout/

A conductive tape star is born!
While Grace Hopper was at an all time high for attendance, on September 30th e-textiles held a sold out workshop!  We had 30 people sign up for the "e-Textiles the Softer Side of Computing" workshop, however a number of attendees didn't show, but we had an extremely excited group of women on a waiting list that dropped in early on the off chance they could sit in...but instead  were able to participate in the hands on LilyPad circuit workshop!


Gotta love buttons!
The 30 attendees were treated to various materials when they entered the room, from a variety of cloth switches, pre made projects, book of conductive fabric and postcards with websites and ordering information that disappeared before the workshop even began...all of this was extremely exciting to many who were first timers.  Just the thought of washable electronic elements sewed into clothing was mind boggling!

The panel and workshop was led by Ann-Marie Horcher from Nova Southeastern University, and myself which included a presentation on the importance of e-Textiles within the computing community ... then the fun began ... circuit building in a wide array of personal objects. The workshop ran smoothly with everyone helping out, talking about designs, how to complete the circuit in their project and everyone left with a working circuit.  A fantastic workshop for a celebration of fascinating women!!
Yahoooo...it lit!!

2 comments:

  1. Glad that we live in the world where such meetings became popular and are attended by people all over the world. Hope you enjoyed your being there. I wish i could join you next time.

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  2. That's a pretty great opportunity to meet lots of diffrent women in coputing industry and so on all over the world. Share new background knowledge, get a great experience and see new possibilities in diffrent fields are key points for such kind of meetings. I hope I can visit the next meeting!!!

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